Smolder
by Kukaburry
Summary: Three years after Arie and Fred began dating, they find themselves at a special wedding. Arie soon discovers that her perfect life might not be so perfect after all. -Sequel to A Friendship Broken -
1. I Do

Smolder

Sequel to 'A Friendship Broken'

*Harry Potter Disclaimer*

By Kukaburry

Chatper 1 – I Do

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><p>"Arie you look so beautiful!" Becky crowed while flapping her arms giddily.<p>

"You really do," Angelina agreed, looking Arie up and down. "Today is going to be amazing."

A small sniffle escaped Becky's lips. "I love weddings. They bring everyone together."

Arie grinned and turned to look at herself in the full-length mirror, noticing how the dress framed her curves perfectly. The soft, crisp fabric draped itself over her shoulders and washed down her back, coming to a sudden stop at her ankles. "I'm so nervous you guys. What if I forget everything?"

Becky and Angelina giggled. "You'll be fine," Becky reassured her. "You're Arie, you always know what you're doing."

It was strange to think that she and Becky had been mortal enemies only three years earlier. Three wonderful years. Grinning confidently, Arie pulled her shoulders back and proceeded to march through the archway as music began playing.

Every face turned to her as she walked down the aisle towards the altar. Rows and rows of pink begonias lined the aisle, bathing her vision in a light pink hue and a scent of buttercups trailed past her nose. Her gaze passed over her parents and the Weasleys sitting up at the front of the congregation. She glanced at her two brothers, Richard and Martin, who stood in line at the altar in crisp tuxedos. Finally her eyes fell on the one person whom she had wanted to look at all day, whom she wanted to look at every day for the rest of her life, Fred Weasley.

A small tremor ran through her body and lodged itself in her chest. A warm wave of memories from the past three years rushed to greet her, flashing through her mind. The moments when she and Fred found time to cuddle in his room while his mother was away. The time when she accidentally set the Christmas roast on fire and Fred turned it into an epic tale for the family to hear. The seconds she stole away for a quick kiss at breakfast when they slept over at each others house. Helping Fred and George decorate their new flat above the joke shop. The memories slowly swept away and left her breathless.

She took her spot opposite of him and continued to gaze tenderly. She was still the same old fiery Arie with a foul mouth and quick temper, but when she was with him, she knew he helped to keep her calm. Today, she knew, was going to be the biggest day of her life so far.

"Everyone quiet down, here comes the bride." Arie turned towards the door she had just passed through and watched as Angelina, washed in white, walked fluidly down the aisle towards her soon-to-be-husband, Martin. Every emotion escaped into Angie's eyes brimming with heart-felt tears and Arie knew with all her heart that this was the one woman who would never disappoint her brother. The congregation stood and watched in awed silence as she passed each row and bathed them with her warm glow.

Angie took her place next to Arie and passed the large bouquet of white lilies backwards into Arie's hand. "Ladies and gentleman, we are gathered here today to bring together two wonderful families: the Williams and the Johnsons."

Arie let a few stray tears slip down her cheek as she watched her big brother kiss Angelina for the hundredth time that day. "I bet you can't wait until your big day, right Arie?" Her aunt Mary asked with a glimmer in her eye. "That handsome boyfriend of yours is a great catch. I'm sure you'll be tying the knot soon."

A small chuckle escaped through her nose and she shook her head. "No plans now auntie. You'll be the first to know when it happens." She joked. In the back of her mind she knew today was special for a completely different reason. Fred had acted strangely for the past couple of weeks and she somehow knew that tonight would be the night he would ask her to marry him. What better night than after her own brother's wedding?

"Hey pumpkin," her uncle Walter flapped his loose gums. "What a great night huh? Your brother is a lucky guy." He winked fondly at her. "How's my favorite niece doing tonight? Where's the excellent fella of yours?" He scanned the crowd and Arie joined in. "You have to introduce me to him sooner or later. Your dad just can't stop talking about how darn successful he is."

Arie grinned proudly. It was true: Fred and George's business had never been busier. Fred was on Witch Weekly's cover five times in the past year for youngest entrepreneur. They had a huge profit margin that they split in half and donated 50% to the less fortunate wizards and witches. "I promise I will." Not wanting to miss the opportunity to brag a little about herself, Arie added, "Did you know that I just got a promotion? I'm working as a calligraphy interpreter in the Runes department now."

Uncle Walter smiled and patted her on the head. "That's wonderful dear. Remember, I'll be the first you tell when you get engaged." Her grin faltered slightly at the implication in his tone. She shrugged it off and smiled endearingly.

She was already used to people referring to her as 'Fred's girlfriend'. It's what came with dating someone as successful as him, and it never bothered her because she was happy with how their relationship stood. He never made her feel inferior and always celebrated with her when she made progress in her field. It had taken her two years to land the job with the Runes department in the Ministry of Magic. She had lamented her every day of existence before then, but Fred always pushed her to her full potential. There was no reason not to be proud of herself; she was only 20, almost 21, and she had a highly-sought after job in a tough department, and she was dating one of the most successful men in Britain. What could she possibly be missing her life?

'Marriage'. The word popped instantly into her head. It was hard for her to admit it, but she wanted to settle down with Fred already. She never talked about it with anyone, especially Fred, but she felt like she was ready. Some tiny voice in the back of her head always told her that Fred wasn't ready, but she knew better today. Why else would he have been so secretive the past couple of weeks? Everything in her body told her that tonight was the night that everything changed.

Arie continued to wander through guests and make introductions. Angelina's family was especially sweet. "Hi, I'm Arie." She stated with a dazzling grin on her face. The tall, thin woman before her looked down and grinned.

"Yes, you're Angie's friend and Martin's sister, right?" Arie nodded. "I'm Angie's aunt Dorothy, but everyone calls me Auntie D. It's so nice to meet you. You know, you looked gorgeous up there today. Who did your makeup?"

The comment took Arie by surprise, "Oh, the other bridesmaid, Sarah. I guess she's pretty good with makeup."

"I'll say. You and Angie absolutely glowed! So, I heard you got a job in the Runes department? I've heard that's a tough department to get hired for. You must be really proud of yourself." Arie blushed and smiled modestly, silently cheering that someone had brought up the subject.

A hand snaked around Arie's waist and she looked up to find Fred smiling down at her. "Oh, Auntie D. this is my boyfriend, Fred Weasley." She felt Fred chuckle at 'Auntie D'.

"A pleasure! Look at you two, a lovely couple. Oh, I know you!" Her voice rang with recognition. "You're the boy who owns the Weasley Wizard Wheezes with his brother."

Bowing his head in admonition, Fred said solemnly, "That is me. I'm afraid you've caught me." He winked at Arie briefly.

"I'm very impressed with your skills young man. I'm the head of the International Dwarf Evacuation Embassy and those invisibility cloaks you made were the key in our last raid. Do you have time to talk to my son? He is a sixth year at Hogwarts and he's looking to start his own business with a couple of friends. I'm sure he'd be grateful for any advice you can give him." Fred cast a bemused glance at Arie before following Dorothy through the crowd. That was just like Fred: making business contacts everywhere he went.

Arie made her way over to the table where her parents sat chatting together. "Hey mom, dad." She heaved a sigh and sat down in a most ungainly fashion. "When are they serving the cake?"

Diane smiled at her step-daughter. "Soon honey. Just be patient." Patience was the last thing on Arie's mind, but she decided not to let her mother know that. "Are you having fun?"

"Yeah of course. They really went all-out for this. The food is amazing and everyone seems really nice."

I'm so happy you introduced Martin and Angie. Look how happy they are now." Arie looked at the couple in question, envy gnawing at her. "That'll be you and Fred soon, dear," Diane soothed as though reading Arie's thoughts. "You two are lucky to have each other." Leave it to Diane to be the only person who appreciates both sides of the relationship.

As if on cue, Fred stepped up on the stage and grabbed the microphone noisily. Arie's heart stopped beating for fully a minute. She inhaled sharply and watched as her wildest fantasies came true before her eyes. "Ladies and gentleman, there is some important news I need to share."

Fred looked at Martin who nodded and smiled conspiratorially. 'So Martin knew about this? The traitor!' Arie thought dramatically. All around them, the hover lights began dimming and a large spotlight burned into the middle of the dance floor. Thoughts seemed impossible considering how loud Arie's heart was hammering against her chest. This was it! This was the moment that she had dreamed about for several weeks.

The sound of heels tapping caught Arie's attention as she looked over her shoulder and saw George leading Becky by the hand towards the spotlight. A bead of confusion stirred in Arie's ribcage as she tried to process the scene before her. Becky's eyes were wide as she looked blindly at the people standing in a circle around her. Together, they halted directly in the spotlight and George got down on one knee and pulled out a little velvet box. Inside sat a solitaire sapphire ring bound in white gold.

"Becky," George's voice echoed with the _sonorous_charm. "Becky, I cannot imagine living a day without you. You have become my best friend and the one person I can always count on. You give me something to look forward to in the future. Will you marry me?"

The air seemed thick with stolen air; air that went into every feeling George poured into his proposal. Every person watching collectively held their breath and waited for the answer. "Yes," Becky cried, eyes gleaming with fresh tears. "Yes I will!"

In that moment, Arie's entire reality came crashing down.

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><p>Hey guys. New story. I know I haven't updated in a while and it's kind of a personal matter as to why. Let's just say that several of my feelings are being put into this story. I hope all you lovely readers will enjoy this as much as 'A Friendship Broken'. This story seems to be writing itself already so expect an update soon.<p>

~Kukaburry


	2. Welcome Reality

Smolder

By Kukaburry

Chapter 2 - Welcome Reality

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><p>"Please, please, please tell me this is a nightmare," Arie told herself for the umpteenth time. She had trapped herself in the loo to avoid crying in public. "What is wrong with me? I should be happy for them," she hiccuped between sobs. "Stupid Fred. Why is he such an idiot?"<p>

"Arie?" She heard Angelina's voice echo in the room. "Are you okay?"

For several moments Arie stopped breathing, attempting to compose her voice. "Yeah, I think I ate something weird."

"Alright, people are looking for you. I just wanted to make sure you didn't fall in." Arie gave a weak giggle before Angie left.

She sat on the toilet for several more minutes composing herself and drying stray tears. She knew that it was her own fault for getting her expectations up, but she couldn't help feeling completely thrown under the bus. Why did Fred not tell her about George's upcoming proposal? When did he plan on proposing to her? What was in their future?

After ridding herself of her final sobs, she recommenced her celebration and pretended that nothing had happened to her. Even when the couple came up to chat with her, she smiled brightly and gave them warm hugs. "Wow that was some proposal!" She said in an almost-too-cheerful voice.

"I know!" Becky gushed, staring at her finger admiringly. "Just like George, so unexpected," she teased with a small smirk.

"Yeah, fancy that," Arie replied stonily.

"I bet you knew that was going to happen. Fred probably told you everything," Becky hinted with a sage wink.

"Well, not exactly," she replied falteringly. "I'm so happy for you. Oh, sorry I think my mom is looking for me. See you two later," she quickly lied.

Ten minutes later Arie could feel her anger bubbling over so she made her excuses and apparated home. The corners of the house seemed darker than usual so she dug out her take-home work from the previous day and sat down at the table and decoded runes. It took her twenty minutes to decode the first two paragraphs, but the third one proved to be a bit of a pain.

"Damnit! I fucking hate these Runes. Why don't they use the same symbols!" Arie roared and pounded her fist against the table.

"Did I come at a bad time?"

Arie whipped around and yelped. "Merlin, Fred, you nearly scared my knickers off."

A wolfish grin spread across his face. "There's still time for that."

"Har har," she growled in response. "What are you doing here? You're not going to stay over are you? Your parents would kill you."

"I just wanted to see if you were okay. You left without saying goodbye to anyone."

Guilt crept into her stomach as she watched Fred's concerned eyes. "I'm okay. It was just a lot of stress I guess."

One of his eyebrows kicked up in surprise. "Stress? About what?" His innocent question caused turmoil to boil in Arie's head.

"Fred, when do you feel like settling down?" The question erupted from her mouth before she could think about the consequences.

A slow whistle escaped his lips. "That's what this is about?" His resounding sigh seemed to fill the whole kitchen. "Arie, you know I love you." He stopped for a second, looking at her for an answer he couldn't give.

"But?"

"But I don't know when I'll be ready. There's a lot of things I want to get done before I settle down. I was thinking about doing graduate school in wizarding law. You know that'll take me four or five years."

Arie's jaw opened. "What the hell? You never told me this." Fred cast his eyes down and stared at the table. "So you're saying that I have to wait for you for five years?"

Fred shrugged. "That's the plan."

"Have you even thought about what I might feel about this?"

"No. Why would I have? I think about you when I plan things that involve you. This doesn't."

Fresh, angry tears stung Arie's eyes. "So you're saying that my opinion doesn't matter for anything else you do?" Her burning gaze caused Fred to turn a light shade of red. "You're saying that you haven't even thought about what a future with me might be like? You didn't think about how I would feel having to wait five more years to get married?"

"I don't understand why this is a big deal for you. You're not the thing my life revolves around."

Now it was Arie's turn to blush. She knew she had become dependent on Fred over the past three years when it came to planning her future. "Well, can we move in together in the meantime?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Arie. You distract me a lot and I'd have to have a lot of study time. Plus, I'd probably go across the continent anyways and it's doesn't make sense for you to go all the way with me."

"I can't believe this," Arie spat, staring at Fred in disbelief. Did he even realize how mean he sounded right then? "So you really mean this? I'm going to be living with my parents for five more years while you gallop across the world?"

Fred shrugged again and Arie wanted to throw a chair at his head. "Look, I really don't know what my future looks like. Sometimes your temper freaks me out and I wonder whether you'd be the same with kids."

"Fred, why the fuck are you bringing this up now? Why are you still dating me, then?"

"We've talked about it before, Arie," he replied with a steady glare.

"Yeah, but I didn't think it was a big deal!"

"So you don't listen to anything I say unless it's a big deal?"

"Damnitl, you know what I meant." Trying to not prove that Fred was correct about her hot-headedness, Arie took several steadying breaths. They stared at each other quietly for a moment. "Are you sure you love me?"

Arie couldn't believe she had asked it, and according to the look on Fred's face, neither could he. "I, well...", he sat there and kneaded his brow for a moment. "I love you most of the time." He said very nonchalantly then, after a thoughtful pause, added. "Sometimes I think you love me more than I love you."

"What?" She stared at him in wide-eyed shock.

"You asked me, didn't you? That's how I feel."

Arie felt close to exploding into a thousand fire crackers right then. "Let's sleep on this and see how we feel in the morning. Maybe our emotions are getting the better of us."

"Okay," Fred replied slowly, watching Arie's every move from across the table. "We'll talk about it tomorrow." He reached forward then quickly pulled his hand back. He stood up, grim smile etched into his face, and walked out of the kitchen door without another word.

Every nerve in Arie's body was on fire. How could this have happened? One minute she was happy and the next her life was falling apart around her. Was that it? Did her life really involve work and Fred? She stared at herself in the mirror and the person staring at back at her looked ten years older. "How did you let this happen? Why did you have to get so fucking clingy? It's your fault you idiot."

She checked herself quickly, realizing her temper was rearing its ugly head yet again. "Maybe Fred is right about my temper," she mused. "There's plenty wrong with him, the idiot bastard. He never has time for me for one thing." A black hole of complete and utter nothingness popped into her mind. Was this the end? "Are we breaking up?" The whisper nearly shattered the frail silence.

Tears of self-pity poured down her cheeks as she dragged herself into her room and locked the door. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried herself to sleep and she dreaded experiencing it again. An exhausted slumber overtook her at last.

Dawn startled Arie awake and she realized she had fallen asleep in her bridesmaid dress. "Shit, mom is going to kill me." She stumbled into the bathroom and hurriedly unzipped the dress and took a long, relaxing shower. "I wonder if Fred's coming over...," she stopped mid-thought and remembered their fight last night. "Oh Merlin, it wasn't a dream." A fresh wave of sadness heaved from her stomach and she leaned against the wall for support. Her mind spun over the conversation again like a bad merry-go-round until her heart ached. All of the fun she and Fred used to have seemed a millennia ago.

Every fiber of her being knew there was something wrong. Something had to change or else everything they had fought for would be lost. It was a hard truth to face, but she knew it was an inevitable conversation. All Arie felt in that moment was that she would die if she had to give up Fred; her heart would crumble into a thousand pieces and sink away into oblivion.

She wanted to talk to someone about it, but she knew they would judge her. How could she lose someone as great as Fred? She knew they would think she had done something wrong, so she kept it to herself and began thinking about her temper instead. Where had it come from and why was it so rash? It was difficult for her to think about it for too long because she kept circling back to the fight with Fred. That singular thought consumed her for the entire day. She refused to go downstairs for lunch in case she broke down crying like a ninny. As she sat against her bed, she thought about the first words Fred would say 'We need to talk'. She ran it through her mind over and over, thinking about what she would say when those words came out.

After an hour of laying in her bed, she heard her mother yell upstairs several times, but the sound was muffled. "What?" She bellowed, not lifting her head from the pillow. Again the sound was too muffled for her to make out what her mother was yelling. She wearily dragged herself to the door and cracked it open far enough to wedge her forehead through. "What?" She yelled once again.

She heard Diane click her tongue and sigh. "I said Fred is here!"

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><p>Hey guys, I'm back. I'm sure you can tell from this story how my life is going. Luckily this is my last year at university and life is looking up. I'm going to get my own place next year and get a full-time job. Woohoo! I've been spending the past couple of months losing unnecessary weight and it's been so liberating. I know I sound droll right now, but I promise my chipperness is slowly coming back. I was not born to be unhappy. :D<p> 


	3. Settling

Smolder

By Kukaburry

Chapter 3 - Settling

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><p>Aerie watched as Fred walked languidly up the stairs. Each step brought her closer to shedding tears. She knew, in her heart, that something was going to break. She simply hoped against hope that it would not be her soul.<p>

"Hi." His single word wrenched her heart harder than if he had kicked her in the stomach.

"Hi."

"Look, we need to talk." Bingo, the exact words she had hoped he wouldn't say. Her mind mulled over her previous decision quickly, wondering if she had the guts to go through with it. There was only one way to find out.

She sighed as a small tear escaped down her cheek and dropped onto her bare knee. "Yes, I think we do."

He sat down next to her and wrapped his hands tenderly around hers. "I think it might be a good idea if we cooled it for a while." He paused to take a shaky breath. "I'm heading out tomorrow to check out Zandu's School of Wizarding Law so I'll be gone for a week." A small shard of ice slipped between Arie's ribs. "We can think about things while we're apart, okay?"

"No," she breathed a ragged breath of remorse. The words she had been pondering for the last hour escaped in a rush. "No, we shouldn't take a break. I think I'm ready to break it off." It was Fred's turn to look surprised. "We've been spiraling down for a while now, Fred. You were right when you said that I care about you too much. I've known that for a while and I think it's making our relationship difficult."

"Arie, I didn't mean it like that." Fred's breath was barely a whisper. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that."

She shook her head, telling him to be quiet. "It doesn't matter, though. We're growing apart. We've been growing apart, and I'm ready to start my own life. Everything I've done in the past couple of years was based on our future life and I want that to stop. There's this great opportunity coming up soon where I'll get to lead a team on rune expeditions. I want to look into it."

"I didn't know you were interested in that. It sounds like a good opportunity."

"I think there's a lot of things we don't know about each other, Fred. We haven't exactly been talking to each other lately."

A couple of tears finally leaked from Fred's eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that this has happened."

"No, don't be," Arie gasped. "It was a long time coming. We're on different paths right now and we're going to do our own thing and be wildly successful."

"Maybe we can talk when I get back. We'll have a week for things to sink in."

A slow, sad smile tugged on Arie's lips. "Sure."

He took an awkward step forward and pulled her close, breathing in the scent of her hair. Arie fisted his shirt and felt her wet tears soaked up by this t-shirt. She breathed in deeply, trying to capture his smell in her memory. "I love you Arie."

"I love you Fred." He placed a short, searing kiss on her lips. Several tears slid down his cheek and mingled with Arie's near the bottom of her chin.

As he walked towards the stairs, he shuffled his feet against the carpet. He turned one last time when he reached the top of the stairs. "I'll be seeing you."

When he was out of earshot Arie felt herself breathe out, "No, you won't."

She brushed her hair, washed her face for the first time in forty-eight hours, and walked downstairs to face her family. "Hey there, are you feeling alright? We haven't seen you all day."

A bright, fake smiled plastered to her face, Arie lied, "Yeah, of course. I was just tired from last night. I stayed up finishing some work," she tugged on her long ponytail. "I'm going into work for a few minutes to tie up some loose ends. I'll be back for dinner."

Diane's keen eyes caught on that something deeper was going on, but she didn't press Arie any farther. "Alright darling, don't overwork yourself."

"I never do, mom."

She stepped into the sunlight and felt it kissing her skin as though it were trying to massage away her pain. A hollow throb burned the pit of her stomach and she leaned over, dry retching. Her eyes blinked rapidly, trying to stem tears threatening to fall at any moment. Damn, what was with her? She never cried and suddenly for the last two days she had become a watering pot. She was Arie Williams, the most fiery girl in her year; she couldn't let a little breakup ruin her life.

Closing her eyes against the comforting rays of sunlight, Arie imagined the tall stone building housing her work and apparated there with a tiny 'pop'. None of the passing muggles seemed to notice that a young girl with a red nose and watery eyes suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and indeed, they barely seemed to notice the huge towering stone building that the young girl now entered.

"Good afternoon Miss Williams. You're here on the weekends now?"

"No, I'm just dropping off my runes to publishing. I won't be here long." She dropped her wand onto the metal plate for examination before entering. She dodged between departments, determined to avoid running into anyone before she reached Travel.

"Oh Arie, I didn't expect to see you here today," Joan, her co-worker, stopped in the middle of the hall to look her up and down. "Man you look rough. Too much party, too little sleep?" She winked suggestively.

"Er, yes. I was so wound up for the wedding that I barely got anything done on Friday."

Joan nodded her head. "Tell me about it. I heard it was amazing. Oh, and I heard all about the big surprise." Her face broke into a wide grin and Arie felt her heartbeat speed up. 'Please don't talk about Becky and George'. "I heard little Becky got engaged to George! Oh tell me everything, was it romantic?"

Eyes wide, Arie tried to think her way out of the situation. "Yes, yay. They got engaged." Her lack of enthusiasm was much too apparent. Joan frowned and looked ready to ask a dangerously personal question. "Sorry Joan, how about I tell you tomorrow? I just wanted to pop in and out before dinner with my family."

"Ah, sure. I'll see you tomorrow."

Hands trembling slightly, Arie hurried into her office around the corner and closed the door. No matter how hard she held back the flow of emotions, she knew that eventually the dam would burst, but she didn't want it to happen when she was making the biggest life-altering decision of her life. Once she composed herself, she peeked her head out to scan if the coast was clear then walked quickly to the Travel office to meet with her contact.

She slipped through the double glass doors and saw him sitting exactly where he always sat, blonde hair smoothed down and collared shirt slightly askew, Marty Liebowitz. At the sound of footsteps, he turned in his chair and narrowed his eyes in interest. "Arie Williams, I never expected to see you here."

"Yeah, I didn't expect to find myself here, either." They stared at each other for a few moments before Marty cleared his throat expectantly. "Ah, right. Remember when you told me about that job in Egypt?"

His face grew wary. "Yeah."

"Well, I was wondering if you were serious about having me come along."

Marty leaned back in his chair, trying to assess the situation thoroughly. "Did something happen?"

"No," she snapped just a little too quickly.

He held up his hands in mock defense. "Alright, sensitive topic, I'll stay out of it." He pulled a couple of files from underneath his desk. "Yes, I was serious about you coming with us. You're one of the better Junior Runes specialists we have, and you're still young enough to enjoy the experience."

"You make it sound like you're fifty or something."

He gave her a wry smile. "Sometimes I wish I was. If you're serious about coming then you have to sign the paperwork by tomorrow. Our portkey is leaving next Tuesday."

"Can't I catch another portkey later?" She asked hesitantly.

"Have you heard how dangerous it is in Egypt right now? We're lucky we're being allowed to take this portkey over. We had to fight Cornelius Fudge himself for permission." His rant startled Arie. "Sorry, I got carried away there." She gave him a faint smile. "Like I said you'll have to get all the documents taken care of by tomorrow afternoon."

Arie looked at the fifteen documents piled in front of her, some color-coded for signing areas and others simply instruction sheets.

"Can I sign them right now?"

Marty's eyebrows shot together, but he managed to hold back most of his questions. "Are you sure you don't want to read them and bring them in tomorrow?"

"No. I want to sign them and get out of this country as soon as possible."

"If you want to, there's a desk over there," he pointed to a glass-top desk on the right. Shuffling the pages together, she took a quill and began speed reading the documents and signing them with haste. "Is there something you want to talk about?" Marty queried as he watched her page through the documents. "Did something happen with that Weasley kid?"

He knew he had hit a nerve when she stilled so quickly that she might've become a statue. "Marty.. do you remember when I hexed your fingers to stick to your face?" Her blue eyes pierced him with an angry stare. "Don't make me do it again."

Instead of looking concerned, Marty returned her glare with a lazy smile. "My mistake. Continue writing."

Anger abating, Arie scribbled her name on line after line, barely reading the passages above and below the signature lines. Pictures of Fred flashed in her mind and she dug her quill into the parchment forcefully, willing the images to disappear. She could imagine the look on Fred's face when he found out she was gone for two years. It would serve him right, the oblivious bastard.

The last signature line appeared and Arie carefully signed her name before collecting the papers together and handing them over to Marty. "So you read and understand everything?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah. What should I bring with me?"

Marty's lip quirked. "Well on the fourth page there was a list of necessities we provide you with in the standard-issued pouch." He rummaged around in a cardboard box and withdrew a black pouch. "We have a first aid kit, linens, soap and shampoo, extra clothing, rune dictionaries, and other knick-knacks."

Arie looked at the pouch dubiously so Marty held it open for her to reach into and she withdrew a long robe. "Oh, I forgot we had these," she said while pushing the robe back into the depths of the pouch.

"We recommend you try keeping the rest of your luggage to one suitcase full since the max size allotted in the pouch is three suitcases full."

"I think I can manage that. Is that it?"

Marty pulled out one final parchment and a quill. "Just one more signature stating that you are aware of the dangers of Egypt and Africa and we're all set." He placed Arie's stack of papers on a little tray and they vanished a few seconds later. "Looks like you'll get an early approval," he said after he noticed the missing papers.

Arie scanned the parchment and signed the blank space at the bottom. "Well that's that," she sighed as she set the quill down.

"You're all set. If you need any help with packing just ask me and I'll come by to help." His sly grin set her stomach roiling.

"I don't think that will be necessary Marty."

"Ah well, my offer stands anyways," the sound of fluttering papers caught their attention and Arie's papers reappeared with a large golden seal stamped on the front. "And now it's official. Welcome aboard explorer." He held his hand out in comradery while Arie hesitated for a moment. This was it, this was her chance to get away from her life, from her family, and from Fred. It was the absolute chance of a lifetime, but why did it feel like she was making a deal with the devil?

She looked into Marty's sharp brown eyes and felt herself smile in spite of herself then shook his hand. "Explorers ahoy."

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><p>Reviews andor comments are welcome!

That only took me… a year? Don't kill me, pretty please? It was so hard to write because it's based on some personal things that happened to me. I hope it was worth the wait at any rate. I tried to make it as exciting as possible since you were all so patient with me. ~Kukaburry


	4. Strangers

Smolder

By Kukaburry

Chapter 4 - Strangers

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><p>Arie apparated home, still clutching the black pouch in her hand. She imagined what it was like in Egypt: Hot, dry, and sandy. Everything that England was not. She even imagined how the warm sunbeams would kiss her ivory skin and perhaps even give her a bit of a tan. Fred would have called her gingerbread.<p>

"Oh good, you're home." Her father's gravelly voice startled her out of her thoughts. "Diane just finished making dinner." He gave her a conspiratorial look. "You know your poor mother; she gets antsy if we're not sitting down when she's done cooking."

"Good old mum," she replied distractedly. "She worries too much."

He smiled fondly at his only daughter. "She's just looking out for you."

"And I'm always grateful for it." She looked up at the open windows in the roof, welcoming fresh air. "Are Martin and Angelina coming over?"

"Oh darling, you have a wicked humor." He chuckled. "They just got married. I doubt they want to see their families for the next week."

Arie held back a sigh of relief. She did not want to come clean about Fred in front of the newlyweds. "I was just curious."

She followed her dad into the dining room and sat down next to her two younger brothers, Ronnie and Josh. Diane shuffled over to the table carrying a large dish of baked ziti with sausage. "Make sure to blow on it first boys," Diane reminded them.

"Mum, I'm not little anymore," Josh grumbled between mouthfuls of bread.

"Yes you are Joshie-woshie," Arie mocked while ruffling his short brown hair.

"Shut up Arie." Gone was the little kid who followed Arie everyone and in his place was a hormonal, angry-at-everything, you'll-never-understand-me teenager.

"Settle down you two," Diane chuckled fondly. "You can fight with each other when dinner is over."

Halfway through dinner Diane looked up at Arie with a questioning gaze. "So why did you have to go into work today? I hope they're not working you too hard. I saw your runes project out on the table last night when we got home."

Chewing her ziti slowly, Arie thought of what response she could give to Diane. "Well I didn't want to surprise you guys just yet, but I guess since I signed the documents I might as well tell you now." Her mother and father lowered their forks simultaneously and looked at her expectantly. "I've been working really hard and they offered me a really neat opportunity that didn't get approval until today," she felt the white lie weave its way from her lips. "I'm going to go to Egypt to study ancient runes in the Pyramids and some of the surrounding countries."

Silence settled quickly on the dinner. "That's quite a big opportunity." Diane offered.

"Isn't this a sudden choice?" Her father queried. "Isn't Egypt where a lot of You Know Who's followers are hiding?"

"Don't be so paranoid dad."

"I hardly think it's paranoia when…"

"Does anyone want any desert?" Diane piped in. Chocolate pie appeared in front of everyone. "It's rather fitting if Arie is going to the dessert."

"Mom.. that is a terrible joke." Josh whined between mouthfuls of pie.

Another several minutes of silence passed before her father asked another probing question. "What does Fred think of this?"

Crumbling the pie with her fork, Arie stared deep into the depths of the folds of chocolate, hoping it would inspire her with a quick reply. Nothing came. "I don't really know."

Diane and her father stared at her for several moments and passed knowing glances at each other. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." Both looked as though they wanted to interrogate her further. "I'm going up to my room."

"Honey, before you go, you will take time to think about the offer won't you? We don't want you to make a rash decision."

Not wanting to reveal that she had already signed the contract she forced a smile on her face. "Yeah, 'course I will." Now she just had one week and three days to pack her gear without alerting her parents.

The days trudged by and the more Arie looked forward to escaping, the slower timed seemed to drag on. After the first three days, she finally admitted to her family what had happened between her and Fred. Fortunately, they did not take the news as hard as she had expected since she had been 'acting suspicious' and they had already guessed. They had wanted Arie to tell them everything whenever she was ready. Ronnie was the most torn up, crying that he wanted to see 'Uncle Freddy' no matter how many times Diane tried to hush him, seeing the pained look on Arie's face. Each of his cries strengthened her resolve to go somewhere she would not be able to think of Fred.

With every day that passed, Arie packed a few items into her bag, taking care to avoid suspicion from her father who came to check on her at least twice a day. "Arie, darling, have you thought about what we said on Sunday? You're not really thinking about going to Egypt are you?"

"Dad, it's a really cool opportunity. How many times in my life will I have a chance to go somewhere as exclusive as Egypt?"

"Arie, it's not worth the danger. Many wizards have died there and at least a dozen others have gone missing. I don't want that to happen to you."

"Dad, don't worry about it."

"I have to sweetie, I'm your dad." He brushed a lock of hair over her ear. "It's my job to worry."

Knowing that she was going to leave him without saying goodbye nearly crushed her heart at that moment. All she managed to choke out was, "I love you dad."

She left little surprises for her brothers on her bed and an apology note for her parents on the bedside dresser. It was written in runes, but she enchanted it to reveal the true message when she was safely away in Egypt.

Before leaving, she eyed the locket Fred had given her only a few months beforehand. It was a ruby set in the mouth of a lion. He had told her he smelted the silver into a lion himself and had 'enchanted it with ever-lasting love'. She debated up and down about bringing it with her or throwing it into the nearest fire. She had had the internal argument raging for the past five days. As she stared at the jewel, she swore she heard it roar in defiance, as though it wanted her to decide already. Picking it up, she immediately snapped the clasp around her neck and breathed a sigh. She would wear it as a symbol of her new freedom; she remembered the past, but did not let it weigh down her future.

Padding softly down the hall, Arie fled down the stairs and out the front door, never once looking back at the home she had known her entire life. She felt around for her wand and imagined the Ministry building clearly in her mind. A whirlwind later, the ministry building appeared in front of her. "Ah good, you're right on time Arie," Marty waved at her from the front entrance. "We're waiting for one other, but he should be here any moment. He was quite difficult to get ahold of in South Africa. Their ministry isn't allowing portkeys into Egypt so we had to… how should I say it… sneak him over here. He's been rabid about going to Egypt for the past two years."

Marty took a moment to catch his breath. "Oh I don't think I told you everyone who's coming with us did I?"

"No, that would have been useful about a week ago Marty." She replied, annoyed with him and herself for not even bothering to find out who she would be decoding with.

Three other faces peered around the corner and Marty rapid-fired their names. "This is Tash, Nina, and Sull." As they rounded the corner, two other people stepped forward. "And this is Henry and Dave. I think you already know Bob." He pointed to one of Arie's coworkers. "Everyone, this is Arie."

Arie took a moment to assess the people in front of her. Tash was a tall, burly black man with curly brown hair and a large tattoo of a snake on his forearm. He looked to be around forty. Nina was a slight girl, maybe one-hundred pounds and only a couple of years older than Arie. She looked vaguely Hispanic with tan skin and dark brown hair. Sull was another burly man with buzzed blonde hair and sunburned pale skin. He was old enough to be her father and looked mean enough to fight a dragon. Henry and Dave were twins, much to Arie's chagrin. They both wore green trench coats and their shaggy, dark brown hair held flecks of green paint. Henry had a scar under his left eye and Dave sported a tattoo of a leprechaun. They looked to be only a few years older than she was. Finally, Bob was well over a hundred and still had the excitement of a ten-year-old.

"Hi, I'm Arie. I'll be leading this expedition." She joked.

"I must be in the wrong group then," a voice startled Arie from behind and she turned to face a stranger. "I thought I was the leader of this little expedition," he remarked, eyes scanning Arie's blushing body from head to toe, "I must have been mistaken."

"Oh good, you're here Cole. We're all ready to go," Marty piped up through the awkward silence.

Arie's heart stopped as she assessed the man standing in front of her. He was tall, nearly 6'1, approximately thirty years old, slender build and sporting well-toned biceps barely hidden by a black t-shirt. A tattoo of a lion wrapped around his calf. Arie had never seen a tattoo she actually liked until she saw the lion. After drinking in the intricate artwork, she dragged her eyes to his face. He had a sharp, square jaw and straight nose. His ebony hair accented his midnight blue eyes. The look he was currently giving her showed that he knew she was checking him out, and enjoyed it.

"Only if our fearless leader is ready to go," he said with a little smirk, clearly amused by the situation.

Arie snapped out of her reverie, "I was joking, duh. I have no idea where we're going."

"We're going to Egypt," his amusement visibly heightened.

Snorting, Arie rolled her eyes. "I know _that_. I don't know where the portkey is."

"Oh, well then I'd be more than happy to lead the way, if you'll allow me." The charade was not going to end anytime soon so Arie decided to spar with him.

"The fearless leader approves."

Cole swept his arms out. "Marty, lead the way will you?"

Arie's mouth dropped then snapped shut with a clash of teeth. Cole looked over his shoulder and winked. Even as the 'leader', he didn't know the way to the portal either. Arie found herself unusually flustered by this man.

Marty wound his way through a maze of doors within the ministry, and at a couple of doors whispered some passphrase. Arie's blood pressure rose with anticipation. A couple of minutes later they found themselves in a dusty room filled with random objects from tables to tiny rings. All of them had once been used as old portkeys. On the table sat a granite statue of a cat and an old top hat.

"Alright everyone, gather round the table. The portkey will be opening in less than ten minutes." Marty announced.

Cole looked around and eyed what everyone was wearing. "Please, Arie, Dave, and Henry take your robes off. As stated in the document you signed we need to appear as muggles before we make it to the pyramids. This is for your safety." His authoritative voice sent shivers down her spine. He stepped closer to Arie and whispered softly, "I hope you're wearing something under your robes."

Huffing loudly, Arie whipped her robes off to reveal a tank top and shorts. "See? I'm not an idiot." She may not have read the whole document, but she had scanned enough to realize she needed to wear muggle clothing.

"Everyone put their hands on the portkey. We have two minutes now." Marty watched the clock on the wall intently.

Arie and Cole stood squished next to each other, each laying one finger on the portkey. Every time Cole's arm muscle twitched, Arie felt it vibrate against her arm. The stone cat statue began glowing and a jolt of electricity shot through Arie's arm. She noticed Nina flinch so she wasn't the only one who felt it.

Marty, voice raised in excitement, began counting down. "On my count: Five, four, three, two, one…" his face registered shock and fear a moment before the portkey vanished.

The last thing Arie heard was, "Stop right there! This was not au….", before the portal opened and sucked the nine explorers into unknown territory.

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><p>I know, I know. "Kukaburry, why does it take you so long to write new chapters sometimes?" Well, my dear, sweet readers, sometimes I forget. Yep, that's pretty much it. A whole lot of things happened this past year (most of it for good) and I just didn't have time or inclination to update my stories. I apologize. I love all of you for taking the time to read my stories and you deserve better. I promise that I will update my stories more faithfully now. I have the details down for this story so I won't hit another brick wall for quite a while on this one. :D Anyways, you all are amazing and I'm glad I'm back.<p>

As always, let your voices be heard from the rooftops! Review! ~Kukaburry


	5. Tomb Raiders

Smolder

By Kukaburry

Chapter 5 - Tomb Raiders

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><p>Gray, swirling mist enveloped everyone and a roaring sensation nearly exploded their eardrums. Seconds, or maybe hours later, dry heat replaced the cool dampness of England. The heat burned Arie's lungs and she began coughing, trying to regain the air that had escaped from her chest. At the end of Arie's third cough the vortex stopped whirring, the roaring died away, and the earth leapt up to slam into her legs, knocking her knees into loose sand. Muggles walking between the pyramids ignored the group that appeared out of thin air.<p>

Heavy beams of light reflected off the sand, temporarily blinding Arie and the rest of the group except Cole who had the sense to wear sunglasses. Eyes adjusting to the light, Arie finally threw a hand on her brow to block the intense rays and was completely winded by the vision before her. The Pyramids were colossal, far more impressive than her mind had ever imagined.

"If everyone is finished gawking, we have people waiting for us at the pyramid over there."

Arie turned to behind them and and surprisingly found a sprawling city only a few hundred meters from where they stood. For years she had imagined the pyramids out in the most remote regions of the desert, yet she realized they would have been erected near civilizations for easy access. The muggles had raised large gates to block entrance from the pyramids, but they didn't notice the magical wards thrown all over the area to keep them from wandering into danger. The second pyramid had looked close enough, but after a kilometer it seemed liked they weren't getting any closer.

"Do we need to take a break?" Cole asked, looking at the worn out expressions on Arie and Bob's faces.

Both she and Bob piped up 'No', even though their bodies protested. "Why can't we apparate there?" Arie huffed between steps.

"They don't allow any use of transportation spells within this area to stop people from looting some of the more precious items stored in the pyramids."

"You mean like gold?"

A secretive smile appeared on Cole's face. "Among other things."

Twenty minutes later they entered one of the greatest monuments in the world. "Welcome, we're glad you could make it," a petite woman in her early forties met them near the entrance. Two wizards stood guard on either side of the door. "If you could each drop your wands into the box here so we can clear you." Arie, third in line, watched Bob and Tash drop their wands in the bucket. The woman looked at a small screen in front of her after muttering several inaudible spells.

After everyone's approval into the pyramid, a tall, slender man with thinning hair, droopy eyes, and saggy skin commanded them to follow him into a lower chamber. He introduced himself as Geb. "Security has been tightened up around here. We have wards on most of the major chambers and many of the passageways are impassable. I'm sure all of you noticed a pyramid directly behind this one, it is a decoy version of this pyramid we have set up for the muggles to stop them from destroying historical documents."

Arie wondered what was so important in these pyramids that they would go to such lengths to keep it secret. Cole's comment of 'among other things' led her to believe that beneath her feet there were very dangerous magical artifacts. The object of her thoughts began walking in-step with her, but continued to look straight ahead.

"You will be working in the second oldest antechamber we have been able to secure." Arie's ears perked up at 'secured'. Definitely something dangerous in this pyramid. "We have patrols every few hours, so please don't wander. If they catch you in restricted areas we will send you for immediate detention at the Egyptian ministry." He paused and gave a yellow-toothed smile. "Trust me, you don't want to deal with them." The path winded hundreds of meters downwards. At one juncture Geb stopped everyone suddenly and told them to lay flat on the ground. A sudden gust blew everyone's hair and a ghostly whisper hmmd in their ears. Arie looked to the right and found Cole looking directly at her with a conspiratorial smile on his lips and she gave him a small smile of her own, finally feeling a sense of excitement replace her feeling of wonderment. The rest of their journey was uneventful in comparison.

"We're here," Geb announced. Fine layers of dust drifted up with every step they took through the chamber. Arie felt slightly let down at the lack of splendour, but felt awed at the amount of writing on the walls. Light emitted from a large orb floating around the ceiling. "Just so you know the orb will match the light from outside. It will change for night and day. I know you are all probably tired from your trip," he looked around at their drained faces, "so we have set up your tent over here. I would recommend an hour nap, nothin' longer, then I can go over our mission here."

Two halves split the tent. The first half belonged to the women and the second half belonged to the men, much to their disappointment. There was only five rooms available for the men so they had to divide rooms evenly meaning the twins got one room, Bob and Marty got another, while Tash, Sull, and Cole got their own rooms. The men also had to deal with sharing one bathroom while the women each got their own bathrooms. After crying 'sexism' for several minutes, the men finally settled down and accepted that life wasn't fair.

Arie pulled the drape over her doorway, took off her shorts, and slipped into bed where she fell asleep instantly. What felt like seconds later, she awoke to the sound of Geb yelling at everyone to meet him in the dining room. "How many rooms are in this bloody tent?" Arie asked herself aloud. She nearly smacked into Nina as she fumbled through her door cover. "'Scuse me."

Tash, Nina, Arie, Bob and Marty were all sleepy-eyed, Sull, Dave, Henry, and Cole looked like they hadn't shut their eyes in the past hour. "So, I know you are all excited about what we are all doing in this area." Nine blank stares looked back at him. "What we're doing is trying to decode the third and fourth wall. We've been working on it for the past three years, but you'll see why we've had trouble with it. These walls need to be decoded as soon as possible because, and this must be kept confidential, we think these runes are the link to a new set of spells. Spells unlike any we've ever found before. These spells were known by the elite wizards only. Arie and Nina, from what I've heard you two you would be familiar with the pharaohs and wizards. The pharaohs used the wizards to make their people believe that they were gods. The power of these wizards is well beyond anything current wizards are capable of."

Arie leaned forward, heart racing in anticipation. "We think we have finally found the spells that these wizards possessed right here in this room." A collective gasp met his statement. "We've brought you in because you are a collection of the best runes decoders, history experts, and spell decoders we could find." Arie looked around the circle and wondered what expertise the others had. "Now, we found out that the Runes shift three times a day, so you will all be working in shifts of three."

"I have given Marty the pairings to assign later." His face became grim. "Now, I need to discuss a few rules we have here. I'm afraid that all contact with you will be cut. No owls. No house elves. No mirrors. Your possessions are currently being searched," he gestured to a medium-height wizard standing guard at the entrance to the dining room. "This is entirely for your safety. There are dark wizards out there who would love to get their hands on this find." His eyes dared anyone to objects. "The second rule is that you must remain down here unless there is an escort. Someone will be here daily, if we can afford it. We have very little funding available to us, and we are short on men as it is. Do not attempt to get out yourself or you will find yourself in grave peril. We have lost better witches and wizards than yourselves to stupidity."

"Are we being treated like prisoners?" Sull asked, voice low and angry.

"Of course not. Like I said, you are free to walk the Pyramids, but the only safe area is this room. Even then, things can wander in here." The hair on Aries arms stood on end, and a thick silence overtook everyone. "So I encourage you to wait for a guide to lead you back."

Cole spoke up from the other end of the table. "Can I offer more galleons in exchange for a guard 24 hours?"

"You have already been more than generous by funding this search, Mr. Carver. I'm afraid that money isn't the only issue here. People are getting scared off by the legends surrounding the pyramids. Local wizards hold a stronger belief in them than anyone else, and since our government is restricting travel from abroad, I'm afraid we can't keep up the supply of workers in the pyramids."

Everyone else continued to listen to Geb's warning about the pyramids, but Arie's brain remained on Cole's last name. She had heard the name multiple times in the same way as Fred's: In Witch Weekly's young entrepreneur's category. Cole Carver owned a dozen companies at the tender age of thirty-one. He also knew more about historical artifacts than even Professor Binns, and he probably knew how to decode ruins just as well as Arie. Fred and George had always joked that the only reason he made Witch Weekly more than they did was because he was prettier than them. After seeing Cole in the flesh, she had to agree with their argument, he was more attractive. Catching her staring at him, Cole winked and Arie couldn't help blushing at this boldness.

"We will start at eight in the morning tomorrow. We have the earlier work written for you to study tonight. Get to know each other."

Marty spoke up. "We can tell each other about ourselves at dinner. Geb has copies of the first two rune walls for you here. We can eat lunch now and read through everything."

Food appeared on the table and Arie was suddenly struck with a strange longing to be back at Hogwarts, but the feeling drifted away after a few minutes. After lunch, Arie took a copy of the runes and studied them in her room. Even though she had the decoding on another page, she tried to challenge herself to decode it. If there was one thing she prided herself in, it was hard work. Five hours later, and a couple of peeks at her cheat sheet, Arie had the first wall and part of the second decoded. It was not consistent with runes she had studied before, it had multiple meanings, like riddles, written within many of the sentences. The creatures, sphinxes, suddenly made much more sense to Arie.

The aroma of fresh baked potatoes caused her stomach to growl. Stretching her back and arms, she stood and headed to the dinner table. Everyone except Nina and Tash were present, already feasting on hot, steaming food. "Where's Geb?" She asked, sitting between Marty and Bob.

"He left to go home. He said we're on our own until the morning."

Tash and Nina arrived a couple of minutes later, then Marty clinked a glass to get everyone's attention. "How about we go around the table and introduce ourselves? I'll start. I'm Marty Leibowitz and I come from London. I've studied runes for the past three years since I left Hogwarts. I'm leading the runes team at the British Ministry of Magic."

Sull was from Russia and had been an auror for fifteen years before switching to magic decoding. Nina was from Spain and worked in the British Ministry as a historian, she also admitted that she had been seeing Tash for the past couple of years. Tash was from London and had been in the department of magical decoding for more than a decade. Arie wondered why she had never seen either of them before, but then she remembered that the Ministry had over twenty thousand people working for it. The twins were originally from Ireland, but had grown up in the Netherlands and attended Durmstrang. Henry was a historian and Dave was a magic decoder. Cole, of course, was a historian. Bob went into a ten minute story about year-long stint as an auror and how he lost the tip of nose in a fight against a dragon.

Finally Arie found herself in the spotlight. "I'm Arie Williams. I'm from a little town in England. I work with Bob and Marty in the runes department and I was in classes with Marty at Hogwarts."

Dave piped up with a little joke. "So you're not going to tell us that you and Marty are dating?"

Marty saved Arie from replying by laughing and saying, "No. She's dating the famous Fred Weasley." The grin on his face told Arie that he knew otherwise.

"I'm not dating anyone you idiot," Arie snapped. "Don't go talking for other people Liebowitz. I know some pretty good hexes that I want to try out."

"Children, children," Cole interrupted Arie's threats. "Do I need to put you two in time out?"

Arie glared at him. "Thanks dad."

"How about I just tell everyone who they're working with before Arie sets fire to someone."

"Does that happen often?" Henry asked curiously.

Only to people who deserve it," Arie replied half-jokingly. Cole eyed her with increasing interest.

"So, we have Sull, me, and Henry. Tash, Nina, and Bob." Looking around, Arie knew who she was getting put with. "That leaves Dave, Arie, and Cole." As much as she didn't want to admit it, the idea of working with Cole excited her. Similar thoughts must have gone through Cole's head since he met her eyes with a heated stare. This project would prove very interesting, indeed.

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><p>Another day, another chapter. I rewrote this one a couple of times to set up the right tone. I think I got it finally. Let me know how you guys are liking it! ~Kukaburry<p> 


	6. Puzzle Pieces

Smolder

By Kukaburry

Chapter 6 - Puzzle Pieces

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><p>During the midnight shift, Cole, Dave, and Arie stayed up to discuss the runes since they would need to get used to the new sleep schedule quickly. "So did you both get all the way through the Runes?"<p>

"Yeah, I read both walls," Dave replied proudly.

"I only got halfway through the second wall," Arie admitted. "But I was trying to decode them myself."

"That's stupid, why waste the time?" Dave snorted as he leafed through the folder.

"Shut up Dave," Cole snapped gruffly and looked at Arie with a raised eyebrow. "That's actually a good idea Arie, I didn't think about that. If we can detect a pattern then we can have luck decoding some of them."

"But isn't there a curse on the other two walls or something? That Geb guy said they shifted around at night."

A thought began creeping into Arie's brain. Maybe that piece of information was the most important one. "Maybe that's part of the puzzle," Arie suggested more to herself than anyone else. "What if the runes reveal different pieces at different parts of the day? What if it's not actually shifting?"

"Wouldn't someone else have figured that out by now?" Dave's voice was thick with skepticism.

"Dave makes a good point. It would've been easy to notice a pattern after a few days."

Arie stuck to the idea forcefully. "Not if people were rotating like we were. How long have they actually been trying to solve this?"

Cole shrugged his shoulders. "About seven months, give or take. I really doubt someone would have ignored something as simple as that."

Sighing in momentary defeat, she leaned into the back of her wobbly chair and tapped her finger restlessly against her forehead. "There's got to be something they overlooked, right? Cole, did they write down anything that showed up on the walls before?"

"I'm not sure, I can check with Geb in the morning."

Dave snatched a plum from the bowl in front of them and took a large, sloppy bite, spraying flecks of juice across the front of his shirt. "So, Cole, why do they really have us locked down here? What aren't they telling us?"

"You seem to think I know more than I'm letting on," he replied evenly with a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. "That's interesting."

"Obviously it's not just because of some weird mummy stuff going on in here. We've all heard crazy stories about dark wizards running around and starting riots." He leaned forward and held the half-eaten plum in his out-stretched hand. "What really happened to the last group that was down here?"

Arie looked up from her notes, intrigued by the conversation. "Look, it's just a rumor, I don't know if this is even true, but one of my colleagues heard that the last two groups were taken hostage by a band of dark wizards. They call themselves the Skin Crawlers."

"Why are they called that?"

A grim look pulled Cole's features downward and his eyes flicked between Arie and Dave multiple times. "Because sometimes they kill their hostages and… make the skins crawl back to their families."

A cube of ice slid from Arie's throat down to the pit of her stomach. No wonder her parents didn't want her to go. Had they heard these reports of demented wizards enchanting the dead skin of their victims just to torture the families? She then wondered if Marty knew about the reports and had oh-so-conveniently forgotten to tell her about it.

"Williams, hey," Cole snapped a finger in front of her face twice. "You okay? You look paler than usual."

"Sod off, I'm fine," she replied with extra snark. "So now because of a few lunatics we're trapped down here?"

"I'm sure we could get some security to go with us into the city if we wanted."

"It was supposed to be a rhetorical question," she sighed. "Well, since we can't do anything about it, let's look at the message from the first wall? It's a pretty typical riddle."

"In my heart you shall find a brute of Sunny lines. In my eyes is breeding the face of yours and thine. In the rear you shall hear the slice of Pluto's vine. Three small ? to shake their fears and ? both space and time." Dave read the scroll twice in a row.

"It almost rhymes, doesn't it?" Arie murmured. "I actually translated a few of them differently than they did - do you mind if I substitute them?" Cole nodded and inched closer to look over her arm. Awareness crept into her stomach. "In my heart you shall find a beast of Sunny lines. In my head is well bred the face of yours and mine. In the rear you shall hear the slice of Pluto's vine. Three small tears to shake their fears and - both space and time."

Cole leaned away only half a centimeter and tapped his chin with two fingers. "That does sound better, and almost sing-songy," he mused. "It really only took you a couple of hours to retranslate this? That's really impressive." Arie shrugged feeling a little self-conscious. She hardly ever received compliments on her work since none of her friends understood Runes. Also, her boss gave little oversight on her work so the only person she could brag to was Fred who, while intelligent, found Runes just as perplexing as she found Transfiguration. Cole's blue eyes crinkled as he smiled.

"What's that last word though, it kind of seems like it's the most important here," Dave interrupted Arie's flirtatious thoughts. "And why are they talking about Pluto? Do they mean the wizard or the planet?"

"Well, both I imagine since Pluto is named after him," Arie replied dryly, seriously wondering about the IQ level of this kid.

"Duh, I know that part. I mean is it a clue about him personally or is it something about the planet?"

"Pluto's vine," Cole repeated. "A vine is a stalk. Pluto had a Trident in Muggle history, didn't he?"

"No that was Poseidon. I think Pluto got a Helmet of Invisibility. This wouldn't even make sense."

"How do you know so much about Muggle history?"

"Well a lot of our histories are mixed together. Pluto was a merciless wizard who killed millions of Egyptians, but Muggle history has him as the Protector of the Underworld. It's kind of strange how his job role shifted."

"Do you think maybe his power is something we're looking for?"

"Could be, no one knew how he killed so many people so quickly and then just disappeared."

Dave, bored with the chitchat about Pluto, snapped his fingers. "Can we get back to this now? So it's probably not the wizard since we don't know anything about him except what some idiot muggles said. How about the planet?"

"Astronomy wasn't my best class," Arie admitted.

"Well isn't it the planet of Scorpio?" Cole more stated than asked. "So vine could mean a Scorpion stinger. Those things can whip around pretty good."

"Yeah, you've never seen a blast-ended skrewt apparently." An involuntary shiver creeped down her back. "Why is 'sunny' capitalized in the first sentence? That must mean something."

"Beast of 'Sunny' lines?" Dave murmered. "Well if Scorpio is Pluto's beast, what is the sun's beast?"

"It's Leo - a lion."

A lightbulb went off in Arie's head. "Scorpion tal, lion heart, and 'a face of yours and mine' meaning human, right?" Her excited voice caught the attention of both the boys. "You know what that is, right?"

Cole slowly smiled and locked eyes with her. "I can't believe it. This is impossible."

Dave looked between Arie and Cole. "What?"

"It's a Manticore." Arie whispered.

"But those are just some Muggle fantasy aren't they?"

Looking at Dave pointedly, Cole said dryly, "Obviously not."

Arie stared at the page where the blank still remained, eyes scrunched tight in concentration. "So we need the tears of a Manticore for… for something."

Cole poked her in the side of the head. "I'll check with the others to make sure 'tears' is right." Arie gave him a small glare of doubting her, but she understood why they would need to check. "Don't think about it too much. I think we did pretty good for the first night, we can leave them our notes and see if they know what that word is. It's almost six in the morning, we should get to sleep soon."

Dave stretched and jumped up, eager to finally sleep, leaving Arie and Cole alone. "You did really well tonight. I'm impressed." Cole's eyes squinted as he smiled. "You said you just left Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, history of magic and runes were the only classes I was good at." She admitted with a small blush.

"Kind of like me, I almost didn't leave because my potions grades were complete shite."

A soft giggle escaped Arie's throat. "Cole, do you.. do you think you could try and find those old copies of the runes?"

Watching her with a curious expression, he shrugged. "I can see what I can dig up. It'll be kind of hard since," he gestured at around himself, "we're kind of trapped down here." A small sparkle appeared in his face. "Unless you want to go exploring sometime."

He was definitely flirting with her now, Arie felt it, and small butterflies of anticipation fluttered through her stomach. "I.. don't know." She wasn't sure how to act around him yet and instead gave him a non-committal answer.

Cole shrugged again and stood up. "You staying? You look ready to fall over." It was true, Arie felt like her eyes were going to glue closed any moment.

"Yeah, I want to look through these a little bit more. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"Alright, have fun sleeping on the table," he grinned.

Arie rolled her eyes at his implication then stuck out her tongue. He snatched her tongue and gave a deep, throaty laugh. "Be careful with this thing. People might get the wrong idea." Cole's face loomed near her own and she felt her heart stop momentarily then speed up to several beats quicker than normal. An image of Fred grabbing her tongue the first night they started 'fake dating' flashed through her mind and a feeling of nausea swept through her. "Hey, you okay?" He relinquished his hold on her tongue and bent lower, feeling her brow.

Sidling away from his hands, she forced a fake laugh. "I'm fine. Trust me, I'll go to bed soon. Night." When Cole finally left after ensuring she wasn't feeling unwell, Arie sighed deeply, wishing images of Fred wouldn't keep rushing back to her unexpectedly. She felt both angry and guilty for thinking of him when another guy was trying to flirt with her. Determined to rid herself of all things Fred, Arie wiped her brain and took a sheet of parchment with her outside the tent to trace the newest runes. An hour later she fell asleep on a pile of sand near the back wall.

* * *

><p>Hallo! Guten tag! Danke! Yep I'm flying over to Germany soon and those are about the only words I know besides 'Wasser ulna gasse'. I'm doomed. :'(<p>

Anywho, those of you who are wondering which chapter had the 'tongue grabbing' – It's chapter 3 of A Friendship Broken :D. Such a cute scene. I get all sparkly when I think of everything in that chapter. Let me know what you think of the chapter, and go ahead and guess what's coming up soon. I've given some subtle hints.


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